Chris Engelsman, co-founder and managing director of
European Sleeper, has accumulated a vast amount of
knowledge and experience as a project manager and in
various other leadership roles at consultancy firms and
regional governments.
At European Sleeper, his responsibilities encompass the
business aspects of the enterprise, including sales, marketing,
communication, software development, and finance.
When he was a child, Chris used to live by the railway where
the Noord West Express to Copenhagen, Berlin, Warsaw, and
Moscow passed by. That’s where his fascination for travelling
by night train began.
Many years later, when the last night trains to and from the
Netherlands were cancelled in 2016, he could not let that go
unchallenged. He founded the information website Noord
West Express, channelling the enthusiasm for night train travel
among British travellers and supporting the lobby to reinstate
international night train connections.
In 2019, Chris organised the Jazz Night Express festival night
train from Rotterdam to Berlin, featuring several bars, a
restaurant, and live music stages on wheels.
Based on his endeavours, Chris concluded that, despite the
limited ambitions of the railways at the time, there was a
strong community supporting the establishment of new night
train connections. This is exactly what he experienced
together with his co-founder after the establishment of
European Sleeper in January 2021.